Keepin’ it REAL Estate

It was a sad day today when I drove east bound on the Norwood lateral and saw that my favorite movie theater had closed! I always wondered how they stayed in business. Now I know that they weren’t doing a very good job of it. I am happy to see that the parking lot got paved and re-lined before they closed down. Who was the brains behind that move? “Hey! I’ve got an idea, people probably aren’t coming to see movies here because the parking lot has too many pot holes!”

No matter how gross inside or how sticky everything was, I loved going there. It was nice not waiting in line or having to find a seat. Most of all I will miss the convenience!

There have been no statements made by the company on why they closed. I just wonder what will happen to the land. Who will fill the void??? Any ideas? Maybe Ikea could have moved there!

Looks like my last post about lender owned properties wasn’t too out of whack.  In today’s Business Courier of Cincinnati and according to realtytrac.com, Cincinnati foreclosure rates are up from last year.  What a surprise right??  BUT, the good news is that our rate is the lowest in the state (which ranks 8th).

Looks like everyone is wanting to get in on the action.  If you can buy now, its a GREAT time.  Rates are low and evidently there are deals to be had!  For the full report by realtytrack and to look at the pretty graph, go here and for the business courier wrap up go here.

If you want a lender owned property, just expect delays and a house that needs work.  With more and more foreclosures, the waiting time will only increase!  Happy Hunting!

It seems like EVERYONE wants to take a look at lender owned properties these days.  There is a huge fascination and draw - LOWER PRICES.  What many people don’t realize (until we get to the property) is that many of these houses have been vacant for a while and have “issues.” Whether the previous owners were kicked out by the bank and they left a mess and took everything, or someone has been in and stolen the copper piping out of them, there always seems to be an issue.

Recently, there was a lender owned property that popped up in our beloved Mt. Lookout area.  EVERYONE and their brother wanted to look at this property.  When I spoke with the listing agent, she said that it was crazy the amount of activity that this house had spurred.  Yours truly even had 2 clients put bids on it.  What is the fascination?  Who knows.  Its a great looking house.  It has some obvious plumbing issues (burst toilet and water pipes), its small and its situated on the hill.  But it just goes to show you people love a ‘great deal.’

So what is the deal with lender owned?  Essentially, if you want to put a bid on one, you must realize that the property is sold “as is.”   Yes, you should have inspections done.  Just remember that the bank probably won’t fix anything.  When making an offer, think about what the best most enticing offer to a bank would be and try to make your offer close to that (full price, cash, no contingencies and close tomorrow).  Some banks don’t care about what order the offers come in at, they’ll choose whichever is most pleasing to them.

As an agent, I really don’t care too much for lender owned properties.  A majority of the time, the bank takes FOREVER to respond, there is a TON of paperwork involved and sometimes we don’t get paid.  Luckily, that hasn’t happened to me yet, but I wouldn’t be shocked.  So, does this mean as a consumer you shouldn’t go after lender owned properties?  No, but just be cautious, because a lot of these properties have a lot of problems and the money savings you’re getting now may not be worth it in the end.

Happy Earth Day to everyone!

Here is a little something everyone can do:

Open up your windows and air out your house!  Watch your energy and water consumption today.  Turn off your lights, unplug those electronics that are zapping your energy, take a shorter shower and use a broom to sweep your sidewalks, not the hose.

All the little things we can do, add up to big impact.

Go play outside.

A recent article came out on CNNMoney.com naming Cincinnati as one of the 6  best places to purchase a home.  YEAH! Its about time we’ve gotten some good press!  Not only did Forbes name us one of the most stable markets last year, but now we’re a great place to buy!

If you’re not currently a home owner and wondering if you should be, the answer is YES!  (of course assuming you can afford one, you’ve got a job, good credit, etc..)  If you have questions, call me.  I’d love to answer any questions related to real estate you may have.

Being from Cincinnati, I know that there is a “stigma” that goes with living downtown.  This has never made much sense to me.  Why wouldn’t you want to live downtown Cincinnati?  People live and work in large cities across America, why should Cincinnati be any different?  For a long time now, people who believe in revitalizing downtown have  worked very hard to overcome this so-called “stigma.”  For those of you who are unfamiliar with what’s happening downtown, let me introduce you to “The Gateway Quarter”

I recently had the opportunity to visit all of these great affordable living spaces.  The prices range from the $90’s - $300’s, with many features that you simply can’t get anywhere else for these prices.  For this project, 400+ vacant buildings were bought and are slowly being renovated by several different developers, essentially preserving the beauty, history and architecture of this area.  Their goal seems to be to really revitalize the Over the Rhine area and make it a diverse, cultural, hot spot for people who want to live, work and play downtown.  As I toured the many different buildings, I was continually impressed how the builder preserved the history and character of the buildings, but also equipped them with modern conveniences that we all need and want!

The great thing about these living spaces is that they’re all different.  Each one catering to a different type of person.  One condo unit was bought by an older couple who live in the suburbs but like to enjoy the night life and art in the city.  They come down to live in their flat on the weekends!  How wonderful.  Its not just a trendy spot for young professionals, its affordable living for anyone who wants to be at the heart of the city.  Way to go Cincinnati!

If anyone would like to have a tour of these great condo’s - let me know and I can get a group of people together to tour and either do a wine/cheese tour or a luncheon of sorts.  If you’re down there, be sure to check out Jean Roberts new restaurant “lavomatic” - its delicious and surprisingly very affordable.

I recently ran into someone at an open house who was checking out the neighborhood and similar houses to his because he wanted to sell his house.  I thought GREAT, I can help you accomplish just that!  However, much to my surprise, he proceeded to tell me that real estate agents don’t do anything and that the title company does all the work.   WHAT? What, do you think I’m doing right now? working??  I just let him keep talking and asking him questions; I love a challenge and thought maybe I could dissuade him from trying it on his own.

No such luck, a few weeks later his sign is up in his yard and the house is in tip top shape.  I’ve kept in contact with him over the past few weeks and he is as optimistic as ever and absolutely CERTAIN that he has priced his home competitively.  (In my opinion, its probably about $50,000 over market value.)  “When I replaced my roof, I put a top of the line 30year roof in and didn’t go with the cheaper 20 year, blah blah blah…”, he would say to me, after I would question his price.  Does he realize that the buyers of his home probably don’t really care if its 20 or 30 years?  Most likely they’re not going to be living there that long and as long as they don’t have to replace it, they’re okay.  Its great that you want to fill your house with top of the line items, but you don’t ALWAYS recoup ALL of the money out of them.

After about 1 month since his sign went up, I wonder how my FSBO (for sale by owner) friend is doing now and how much time and money he has spent trying it on his own.  What is your time worth away from your family on Sunday afternoons showing houses?  What happens if you have someone who wants to buy your house, but has a house to sell?  Can you help them with that?  Are you going to write up a contract yourself and take all of the liability for something going wrong?  Are you going to hire a real estate attorney to make sure your contract is legit?  If something comes up with financing or inspections, are you trained on how to really hold a deal together?  Where are you going to advertise? How much does that cost, etc???

Most FSBO’s (roughly 70%) after having tried it themselves usually end up going with an agent.  They realize that we are worth something and that we do have value.  How much is your time worth?  When you’re selling a house, people call you at all hours wanting to see it and usually want to see it at that very moment.  Are you ready to take on that kind of job?  What happens if the deal falls through?  As a FSBO what are you going to do?  Do you know how to handle it and try to keep it together?  Deals are lost all of the time in the real estate business.  In fact yesterday I lost 2!  One because of inspections and the other because of financing.  I still have these buyers and they’re still going to find something eventually that they’ll like and end up purchasing, but the FSBO will have no one in his pipeline to fill, if something like that happens to him.

As real estate agents, we just don’t stick a sign in the yard, put the house on MLS and walk away, counting our millions.  We actually work hard to get your house sold! There are a few of us out there who give the good hard working ones a bad name.  As a home owner, do your homework.  Find someone who has a good reputation, who you like and who will actually work to get your home sold!  We will even do everything for free, until it closes.  So, all the initial work I’ve put into my 2 buyers (driving them around, writing contracts, counseling them, walking through inspections, etc) I have done without seeing a single penny!

If you’d like some help with your home or are in the market to purchase, give me a call.  We can discuss what’s happening in your area and devise a marketing strategy that will fit and get your home sold fast!

I got a call yesterday from an agent in Bridgeport CT asking about what’s happening with the real estate in Cincinnati??  I was a little unsure of what he was referring to, so I asked him to explain.  He said that he was online (realtor.com) and saw that properties are going for as low as $1000-$10,000 and that he had an investor looking to invest.  Immediately, I thought he was some sort of scammer or reporter or weirdo.  So I humored him for a while and proceeded to look up some properties.  Nothing for $1000, but there are some properties that are basically only worth the land they’re sitting on and nothing more.  I also proceeded to tell him that a majority of those properties are in some less than desirable areas and you can find those types of deals anywhere in the USA.  He did seem disapointed and kept questioning the validiy of those properties, etc… I explained to him I don’t deal in those areas and that he would have to find an agent who did to answer specific questions.  I also further explained to him that what is happening in the rest of Ohio is not happening in Cincinnati.  Our area is for the most part STABLE.  Sure there are some suburbs that are having some problems due to the crazy lending practices of a few years ago, but overall Cincinnati real estate is doing well.

Just to check and make sure my thoughts and feelings are in line with what the numbers are telling me, I ran some reports.

For the areas I do the most work in we are seeing a little bit of a down turn, but not by much when you compare it to last year.  In fact my beloved Norwood is actually up.

Here are the average sale prices for April 06-07 vs April 07-08

Hyde Park:                    Mount Lookout:                  Oakley:                       Norwood:

06-07: $424,284                 06-07: $360,180                        06-07: $199,688               06-07: $106,384

07-08: $400,975                 07-08: $339,900                        07-08: $190,077               07-08: $107.734

Down 6%                              Down 6%                                     Down 5%                           Up 1%

Does this seem like gloom and doom??  Is this reflecting whats happing in California?  Florida? NO!  Is this a natural cycle?  Yes, and we are coming off of some historic highs we saw a few years ago.  Its basically showing the market readjusting itself so that its more in line with what people can afford.

When someone tries to tell you how bad the market it, make sure they know what they’re talking about. If you would like me to do an analysis on your home and neighborhood, give me a call!  I’d love to help you out.

Okay, so some of you may know this news already.  I’ve been under a rock as far as the Cincinnati non-realestate news is concerned lately.  Who says this market is slow??  No signs of slowing as far as I’m concerned!

So, if you haven’t heard.  Our beloved backwards racer will be no more.  I’m surprised there hasn’t been a huge backlash by now.  It seems as though more Cincinnatians would be in outrage.  Seriously, even the Brady kids rode the dualing racers.  They’re infamous!!

According to the press release this decision was made in an effort to be consistent with other Cedar Fair parks.  BOOOO on them.  Keep Kings Island unique!  I’m still bitter that they took out the sweet Smurf Ride.  Now they’re making the backwards racer run forward.  Perhaps this is a sign of the apocalypse?   Is there anyone we can write??

I recently met up with Brent Quebman from Energy Que to talk about what his company has to offer and about educating and helping our city reduce their energy consumption.  I can really see a need for his services in the areas where I primarily sell real estate (older homes with virtually no insulation, old furnaces, etc…)

He is also an educator of Environmental Sciences as Cincinnati State and he briefed me on a “powerless challenge” he posed to his students.  It goes a little something like this:

Turn off your power for 24 hours - on purpose with a purpose Saturday, April 19th…
  

Many people in the world go without electricity every day. Whether a farmer in sub Sahara Africa, Homeless in a major US city or an ice storm has knocked out your power, we quickly realize electricity is a luxury. So the question is, have you lost sight of the basics? What if you chose to go without for a 24 hour period? Do you think you could do it? What does it say if you can’t?

 

Electricity generation is responsible for 41 percent of US man made carbon dioxide emissions. Although there is tremendous focus on alternative and renewable energy sources, we talk very little about our own consumption. Even those that do talk about consumption still use electricity regularly. So what if we chose to turn the power off on purpose and planned for it. In preparation for Earth Day on April 22nd, we will be turning off our main breaker for 24 hours Saturday, April 19th on purpose for a purpose. The first 8 hours should be pretty easy, but after that will be interesting! What will we learn from this challenge?

 

Awareness of what we take for granted.

Takeaways for future power outages.

What could we go without to save power.

How much money and emissions did we save that day.

Perhaps a little more about each other.

Lessons hidden in plain site.